


Together for the Holidays

by tbmd1066



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Awkwardness, Christmas, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-26
Updated: 2015-12-26
Packaged: 2018-05-09 10:56:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5537330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tbmd1066/pseuds/tbmd1066
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Marinette discovers that her crush and her partner are one in the same, she's left confused and upset. But her mixed and negative feelings aren't going to stop her from giving Adrien the Christmas he deserves, and who knows? Maybe she'll figure him out along the way.</p><p>This was the Miraculous Trash Skype chat's secret santa for Lily (theblushofdawn.tumblr.com)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Together for the Holidays

Marinette hadn’t meant to find out. She hadn’t meant to glance to her left as she was leaving him. She hadn’t meant to see him de-transform. She hadn’t meant to learn that her ridiculous friend Chat was her sweet beloved Adrien. It was entirely an accident, and not a particularly interesting one at that. But she knew now. And she couldn’t believe it. 

Chat and Adrien were nothing alike, and it left her wondering which was real, and which wore the figurative mask. If Chat Noir was the fake, that would mean their partnership wasn’t real either. Ladybug complained all the time about Chat’s flirtations and bad jokes, but the idea that they weren’t genuine was heartbreaking. Alternatively, if Adrien was the lie, it would mean that Marinette’s love was completely misplaced. That the dear, kind, quiet boy wasn’t at all who she thought he was, and for all her attention and admiration, she didn’t really know a thing about him. If Adrien was Chat Noir, that meant that Adrien was loud, that Adrien had a terrible sense of humour, that Adrien was widely known as a young man who frequently sauntered around Paris in a _tight leather catsuit_.

The next day was to be their last in school before winter break, and Marinette didn’t hear a word that her teachers said. She was too busy boring her eyes into the back of Adrien’s skull, seeing how his hair fluffed up in the back just like Chat’s, while knowing the front was styled. She’d often observed this before, and found it cute how since he clearly couldn’t see the back of his head, he didn’t bother messing with it very much. Sitting behind him had been an advantage, because she could always see when there was hair lying out of place. But now she was busy comparing him to her partner. 

She still hadn’t really settled into the knowledge that they were one. Even though she knew it as fact, she still couldn’t help regarding them as two different people. It didn’t help that Adrien seemed to be extra quiet today.

If Adrien and Chat Noir were really the same person, then _why_ did they behave so differently?

Out of her periphery, Marinette heard Chloè saying something annoying. Then the teacher was speaking to her, asking Marinette what her plans for the holidays were. Marinette told the class that she was staying in Paris to help in the bakery and finish decorating her house before some cousins on her father’s side would come over for dinner on Christmas Day. The teacher offered some bland pleasantries and then asked Alya the same question. Marinette already knew that her best friend was visiting relatives in Nice, and was leaving tomorrow. Apparently Nino was also going out of town, to visit his grandmother, he said. Then it was Adrien’s turn. For all that Marinette had been doing her best to burn a hole in the back of his head, she hadn’t noticed Adrien growing more tense as the teacher worked her way around. 

“And Adrien, what are you going to do over the break.”

“Nothing in particular, Madame.” 

The way he’d said it sounded so… so sad. Marinette couldn’t stop thinking about it. She knew that Adrien’s father often wasn’t around, and she knew he didn’t have any other family. It seemed likely that he would be spending Christmas entirely alone. She also doubted that Gabriel Agreste, for all he was head of a fashion designing company, would have his mansion decorated for Christmas. The idea that Adrien Agreste, the sweetest boy in the world, was going to spend Christmas all by himself without a single touch of holiday cheer was unbearable to Marinette. All the confusion she felt at knowing he was Chat Noir’s secret identity was immediately shoved aside as she considered the problem. 

She was confused, and she was upset, but she’d be damned if she was going to let that sweetheart, her partner, her crush, her _best friend,_ be all alone like that.

 

* * *

  

Which is what led to her to go out and but a bunch of holiday decorations. They were all sitting in a box on her desk now. A tiny little Christmas tree, only about a foot and a half tall, a couple strings of fairy lights, cheap ornaments, crafting foam, markers, and a hot glue gun with glitter glue sticks. The crafting foam, markers, and glue were for making ornaments by hand. If there were any decorations in the Agreste manor, she was sure they wouldn’t be cheesy, handmade ones, with glued-on ribbons and marker designs. But those were her favourite ornaments on her family Christmas tree, as awful as they were. Chat would love them. Adrien might not. 

This thought was what made her balk at her bedroom door.

“Tikki, I can’t.” she said. “I can barely even talk to Adrien, and now that I know he’s Chat what if everything is just a million times worse and this is an incredibly stupid decision? What if he doesn’t even let me in? What if he hates it? What if he hates me?”

“Marinette, calm down!” Tikki cried. “That’s not going to happen.” 

Marinette sat on the edge of her bed with the box clutched to her chest. “I don’t know what to do.” she said. “I suppose Adrien probably wouldn’t turn me away at the door, but that womanwho works there would for sure.”

Tikki hummed thoughtfully, flitting around Marinette’s head. “You might be right, there.” she said. “You know, you could probably sneak in there as Ladybug without a problem.”

“As Ladybug?” Marinette looked up at Tikki in surprise.

“Sure.” Tikki smiled. “I know you’re not likely to keep stuttering around him now that you know he’s Chat Noir, but it might help.”

Marinette thought about it. She also knew that Chat at least, and so probably Adrien as well, definitely liked Ladybug. And as odd as it was, maybe he’d be happier to have her there than Marinette. 

“Right… Well then, Tikki, transform me!” 

 

* * *

 

Well, she was right. Not that she was pleased, but there would have been a lot more awkwardness if she’d found that Adrien’s room was decked out for the holidays. She knocked on the window and Adrien came into view.

Marinette could not believe her eyes. For one thing, he was clutching a fencing sword. Marinette supposed that was fair. It wasn’t often that one had intruders at the window on the third floor at 10:52PM. What was really shocking was that he was wearing _Ladybug-print pajamas._

“He’s a complete and utter nerd.” she whispered to herself. 

When he saw it was Ladybug, Adrien nearly dropped the sword in shock. He quickly rushed to the window and opened it, shivering visibly as the cold air rushed into his room. 

“L-Ladybug!” he stammered. “I um, I, I was not expecting you… Is something… wrong?”

“No, no!” Ladybug assured him. “Um, I just came to uh, wish you a merry Christmas?”

They stared at each other awkwardly. 

“Oh.” Adrien said first. “Well, thank you. Merry Christmas.” It was right then that he seemed to notice what he was wearing as he glanced down and immediately blushed. Marinette couldn’t believe it. Adrien Agreste had a massive fanboy crush on her alter-ego. But then she supposed they were quite matched in that.

“I um, Ibrought you a Christmas present.” she said, handing him the box. 

“Oh, thank you!” Adrien said. He took a hold of the box and looked inside. “A Christmas tree?” he said softly, looking back at her with those big green eyes. 

“Yeah, there’s stuff to decorate it with, too. Um, nothing much, just some fairy lights, and a few store-bought ornaments, um…”

“Is this craft foam?” he asked, pulling out a red sheet. 

“Uh, yeah, there’s also markers and stuff, so you can um, make your own?” she said. She felt so stupidly nervous! It was silly, the whole thing had been a terrible plan.

“Ah…” Adrien’s voice cracked unexpectedly and they both jumped. Adrien cleared his throat. “Sorry, I just…” 

Marinette could see the tip of his nose (that adorable nose) growing red, and the way his eyes were shining. He was almost crying. Was he touched, or had she fucked up that badly?

“Thank you, my-um, Ladybug.”

Marinette grinned at the little slip-up. “You’re welcome, Adrien.” she said. And ever-so-daringly, she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. “Merry Christmas.” she whispered. 

She was beginning to head back out the window when Adrien called out, “Wait!”

She couldn’t resist the boy, and turned back around immediately. “Yes?”

“Um, well, I, uh…” Marinette had never seen him stutter like this, either as Chat or as Adrien. The thought that she’d made it happen caused her heart to start racing. “I’ve, uh, I’ve never used a hot glue gun, and maybe, uh, you could stay to uh, help?”

His face looked so open and nervous. Marinette smiled. 

“Of course.”

They decided quickly to sit on the floor to make the ornaments. Ladybug plugged the glue gun into the wall to heat up, and Adrien grabbed a pair of scissors from his desk. She wasn’t terribly surprised when the first thing he made was a red foam ladybug. He did burn his fingers on the red glitter glue, but if the smile on his face was anything to go by, he didn’t care. 

"What do you think?” he asked, proudly holding up the ornament.

“I think that if you keep holding it like that before the glue’s dried, the ribbon’s going to come off.”

He quickly set the ornament down on the floor and began clearing up the scraps of foam and ribbon off the floor. “I’m going to go get a wastebasket.” he said.

“Okay.”

Marinette watched him with a smile. She was pretty sure she was figuring it out. Adrien and Chat Noir were the same person. She _knew_ that. He was a quiet boy who wanted to be loud. He was a reserved boy who wanted to be rambunctious. He was a restricted boy who had been granted freedom and was making the absolute most of it. He wasn’t the perfect Adrien Agreste who posed and modelled and rarely ever had even a hair out of place. He wasn’t Chat Noir who flirted and teased constantly without a shred of embarrassment or regret, because no one could be so hyper-outgoing like that all the time. He liked being Chat Noir, she supposed. He was fantastic at it. But if he didn’t have to be Adrien Agreste, he wouldn’t have to be Chat Noir, either. He could be comfortably in the middle. He could just be the boy sat on his floor in polka-dot pajamas at 11:12PM on December the 19th, making foam Christmas ornaments for a tiny tree, not caring a whit that he’d missed 11:11, because to him this was already a wish come true. 

She loved him very much. 

“Ladybug?” he asked.

“Yes?” she said with a small jolt. 

“You were staring off into space a bit, is everything alright?”

Marinette smiled at him. “Yes, I’m fine.” she said. 

Adrien smiled back. “Um, Ladybug?” he started a question.

“Yes?”

“Why did you do all of this?” he asked. “I mean, I’m sure you have better things to do than visit random people around Paris playing Père Noel, so… why? Why me?”

Ladybug kept smiling, and just looking at him with a small smile. Their eyes held together. She was here because she loved Adrien, Chat, and whoever the real in-between person was all together. But he didn’t know that. He knew that Chat Noir and Ladybug were partners. But he didn’t know that she loved him. 

Marinette hadn’t made an ornament for the tree yet, but she pulled a green piece of foam from the box and grabbed a black marker. She quickly sketched out the outline of a cat, and carefully filed it in with black. 

“A black cat…” Adrien breathed. “For um, for Chat Noir?” he asked. 

Ladybug nodded while she cut the cat out. She watched him carefully out of the corner of her eye. He was playing with the ring on his finger. His miraculous. She was amazed that she’d never noticed that the ring was the exact same shape as Chat’s. 

“You, um, didn't answer my question.” Adrien said.

“Sorry.” Marinette replied. “Well… you’re alone for the holidays, aren’t you?”

“Lots of people are alone for the holidays.” he pointed out. He was still fidgeting with his ring. “But, yes, most of my friends are going out of town, and Marinette sounds like she's going to be really busy during the holidays working at the bakery and stuff. I didn't want to bother her.” Marinette laughed. “What?” 

Marinette tried to cover up her amusement quickly. “Christmas is a time to spend with friends and family, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind having you around a bit.” As if she wouldn’t cherish every minute they spent together. She smiled at him. “If you’re really worried about it, you could offer to help out at the bakery. I’m sure they could use some help during the holiday rush.”

Adrien looked surprised at her suggestion. “That’s not a bad idea.” he said. “Although,” he picked up the sticky ladybug ornament. “I’m not sure I have quite the artistic talent for it.”

Marinette laughed. “Maybe you just need more practice, chaton.” 

The corner of Adrien’s mouth dragged to the left before the rest followed in a bright, truly happy smile. “Touché.”

He didn’t ask her how she knew, but the next ornament he made held the emblem of the first akuma that they’d fought together. She followed suit with the next akuma, and by three in the morning, they’d caught up to their last fight, and they were nearly out of craft foam. 

It was at 3:06AM when Ladybug’s miraculous started beeping.

Adrien’s face fell. “Well, thank you for all of this.” he said, holding out a hand to help her off the floor.

“I could stay to help decorate the tree, probably.” she said. She didn’t want to go yet. There were still four spots. Adrien nodded nervously. 

They ripped into the package of fairy lights and strung them around the little fake tree. It turned out that they didn’t need both strings, so Adrien placed the second one around his computer monitors instead. Meanwhile, Marinette opened the box of baubles, red and gold, and began placing them on the little tree. She left the smaller gold bells for Adrien to put up. When he came back to the tree, her earrings beeped again.

“You only have three spots.” he said. 

“I know.” she said, picking up the last ornament and gently dangling it on a branch.

“Are you going to be able to make it home if you stay?”

She didn’t want to leave at all. Tikki had been right. Being here as Ladybug made everything so easy. He liked her, and she liked him, and never mind how complicated it all really was, because weren’t the looks they were giving to each other more important? But Adrien was right too, at this point, she wasn’t going to be able to get home without her transformation dropping. 

"Well, I'm sure you won't leave me to shiver my way home in the snow.” she said with a smile.

Adrien smiled back. “Of course not, My Lady.” he paused. “You’re… are you sure?”

“Well, what’s the worst that might happen?” Ladybug shrugged. She paused for a second, as the horrible thought snuck unbidden into her mouth. “You might hate me.” she said.

“I could never hate you.” Adrien replied without an ounce of hesitation.

“What if I’m not what you expect?” she asked. Her miraculous beeped again. Three spots down, two to go. 

“Then I will be happily surprised.” he said, and took her gloved hand in his. 

Marinette took a deep breath, and released her transformation.

At once, she felt the confidence that Tikki had leant her bleeding out, and she closed her eyes before she could see any disappointment on Adrien’s face.

“Marinette?” he whispered. She heard him laugh slightly. “Princess.” he said. She opened her eyes. 

“Um, hi.” she squeaked.

“Well,” he was _smiling!_ “Now I feel awkward, being the only one in polka-dots.” they laughed. “How did you find out?” he asked her.

“Looked the wrong way at the wrong time.” Marinette shrugged.

“My bad luck.” Adrien muttered. Then he smiled again, so brightly that Marinette thought her heart would bust. “But then, maybe not so bad after all.” Still holding her hand, he pulled her closer. “Mon Dieu, we’ve made things ridiculously hard for ourselves, eh?”

Marinette looked at him, this boy who she was so utterly in love with. “No kidding.” she answered. 

He bit his lip, and she realized he was as nervous as she was. 

“Well, My Lady,” he bent to kiss her hand, and she didn’t pull away. “May I have the honour of escorting you home?”

Marinette nodded. “Yes, please.”

He transformed with a green glow, looking at her steadfastly with those big green eyes of his. His hair falling out of place, and his smile twitching to the side. Marinette felt the buzz of magic, then the leather of his glove on her hand. He led her to the window, and she felt the winter’s chill keenly without her magic to keep her warm. As if reading her thoughts, or perhaps just feeling her shiver, Adrien pulled her close to him. They didn’t say much of anything all the way home, but she didn’t live that far away. As they landed on her roof, Adrien let her down gently while he perched on the railing. He looked at her so softly. 

“Thank you for taking me home, Adrien.” she said.

Adrien beamed at her. “It was my pleasure, Princess.” His smile changed slightly. “Although,” he grinned, and oh, she knew that face. “If you were interested in giving me a reward…”

“Shame on you.” she said, poking him gently. 

He laughed. “Ah but,” he stretched his arm above her head. “How can you say no to a holiday tradition?”

She looked up, and there, dangling from his claws, was a foam ornament decorated like mistletoe.

“Naughty kitty.” Marinette teased him. 

He grinned. “Do you think Père Noel will give me coal?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised.”

He nearly fell off of the railing when she pulled him by his bell to kiss her. As it was, he sat on the edge of the balcony and pulled her close to him, wrapping his legs around her waist. The way he held her so near, it almost felt like Marinette was kissing a starfish, but she loved it. When she licked at his lip he moaned, and she learned that his mouth tasted of mint, and possibly glitter. She ran her hands through the messy back of his hair. She didn’t feel the cold at all anymore, just the sensation of warm, leather-clad hands creeping under the hem of her shirt. 

“Marinette…” he whispered into her mouth. She pulled away, just a little. 

“Merry Christmas, Adrien.” she said. She took the ornament from his hand, and backed away. She opened the trapdoor to her room with the her heel, not wanting to look away from the glow of his eyes. Her foot hit the first rung of the ladder, and Adrien, seeming to realize that this was goodbye, called out to her.

“Merry Christmas!” he said. 

Marinette grinned back at him, and headed down the ladder. 

Almost immediately, she rushed back up. 

“Hey, Adrien!”

“Yes?” his ears pricked up, and his tail swished behind him.

“What I said about needing help with the Christmas rush, I was serious. You should come help out in the bakery sometime, when you’re available, you know?” 

His entire face lit up with joy. 

“Well, if my Lady needs me, I couldn’t possibly deny her.” he bowed, so cheesy, and then his black form disappeared into the golden glow of Paris streetlamps on snow.

 

* * *

 

“Merry Christmas, my love.”

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas to everyone, and especially to Lily! <3


End file.
